Stubborn Souls
by Higuchimon
Summary: [posting hiatus, 2/10 chapters, Edo x Ryou/Ryou x Edo, Proshipping, au: soulmate countdown] A counter on one's wrist denotes the time until soulmates meet one another. The numbers say one thing. Ryou and Edo say something else altogether.
1. Down To Zero

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Stubborn Souls: 1-10: Down To Zero  
**Romance:** Edo x Ryou  
**Word Count:** chapter: 6,260||story: 6,260  
**Genre:** Romance||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Feedback:** All forms eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
**Summary: **In a world where a timer on one's arm marks how long until soulmates meet, Edo and Ryou do not let something as insignificant as destiny interfere in their lives.

* * *

Ryou rubbed his fingers across the smooth skin, the red numbers still ticking downward, as they had every day of his life. Today. Today, of all days. He hadn't reminded Fubuki. His friend would have squealed and danced around in joy, wanting to follow Ryou wherever he went, pointing out anyone and everyone who looked likely to bring the shimmering countdown to a halt.

_Why couldn't I have been a blanker?_ He didn't want this inevitable march toward someone else. Dueling alone mattered to him. There'd been a certain amount of regret when he'd touched Cyber End Dragon the first time and the countdown kept going. He'd known it wouldn't; years remained on it even then, but he'd hoped nevertheless.

But his counter rolled inevitably downward. He wasn't one of those lucky few who didn't have their future beloved chosen for them by some power that no one had ever been able to explain. He envied those who were. They could choose for themselves who they loved, or if they loved at all.

He turned his attention back to his deck. It ultimately didn't matter that he would supposedly meet his soul mate in just a few hours. What mattered was that he was going to fight Edo Phoenix, and this would be his eleventh win as a professional duelist.

The thought of his opponent lingered in the back of his mind, however. He couldn't help it; there was something mysterious about the younger duelist. His string of victories glowed even brighter than Ryou's. If he won tonight (which he wouldn't), then thirty-one victories would be his.

Ryou looked forward to breaking that streak.

He hadn't bothered to review any of Edo's duels of the past, though he knew the other used a different deck every time. It was one of his quirks, or so his promoter suggested to him. Rumor had it that Edo had a _real_ deck of his own, but no one knew what it consisted of. He'd never used it in any official duels.

_If he's not using his real deck, it won't be the same._ Perhaps once he defeated Edo, he could convince the other duelist to give him a rematch, even an unofficial one, using whatever that real deck might be. He wanted to fight his opponents at the height of their power. It made all of his wins that much more meaningful.

His fingers brushed against the numbers clicking down on his wrist once again. They made no sound, at least not outside of his imagination. There they echoed like the knell of doom, spiraling to the moment when his life would no longer be in his control, when he'd think about something and someone that wasn't dueling.

_It doesn't matter._ He'd told himself that a thousand times. He'd never been more thrilled, outside of dueling, when someone approached him and he was able to successfully fend them off by showing them his still ticking counter. He didn't like it, but that didn't mean he couldn't, or wouldn't use it when it was useful.

The look on Camula's face when she'd seen their respective counters still merrily counting away rested peacefully in the back of his mind, brought out on occasion when he wanted to amuse himself. The rest of that experience hadn't been fun at all, but seeing her reaction to his undeniable proof that they weren't meant for one another? Unforgettable.

He also couldn't forget what she'd said after that.

_"Don't think you can escape me that easily, beloved! It only continues to beat because your heart does!" Camula's dark purring voice rippled from the far balcony. "Once I've defeated you, you'll not be just one of my pretty dolls, but one of my own people." Her fangs flashed bright in the darkness. "Once you're no longer human, then your soul **will** be mine."_

Ryou managed to repress the shudder of memory and pushed it out of his thoughts at once. He couldn't help but rub the side of his neck as he did so. His memories of what happened after he'd become a doll weren't very clear, but he suspected Camula of at least beginning her plan. Only Juudai's defeat of her kept him breathing now.

He'd never gotten around to thanking Juudai for that.

He shuffled through his deck once again, the cards falling neatly into place over and over. He'd forgotten how many times he'd done this over the years. So many duels, so many victories. He couldn't even remember the last time he'd genuinely lost one. He didn't count Camula's, of course. He'd given that one to her to save Shou's life, a price he considered well worth paying.

A quick glance to the clock showed that he didn't have that much more time until he needed to head out to the KaibaDome. He would need to get there early; one factor of being a Pro duelist involved getting made up to look good while dueling. He refused to let them put him into anything that wasn't his chosen uniform, however. He accepted the barest hint of the makeup necessary so he looked respectable on camera and that was it.

No reason to wait around. Ryou packed up his deck and duel disk and headed out the door. He'd lived in this apartment since shortly after graduation, having made the arrangements shortly after his eighteenth birthday the previous January, and it already felt more like home to him than his parents' house ever had. One bedroom, a small kitchenette, a bathroom, and a living room, that was all it had, and all that he needed. Perhaps he'd upgrade once he'd spent more time in the Pros. For now, he had no complaints.

He made certain to tug his sleeves down enough to cover up the countdown. He refused to let it show unless there was no other choice. He'd know when it stopped, anyway.

He hoped that it would wait until after he'd defeated Edo.

* * *

Edo's gaze rested on the wall opposite his chair, paying little attention to the workers busily combing out his hair and dusting him with powders that would make him look less like a ghost on-screen. They didn't think he'd heard them muttering to one another about his pale features, but he did. He simply didn't care what they thought. He'd heard it before, too many times. What he cared about was the upcoming duel.

He also cared about what he'd done the night before, and what he knew he'd do in nights to come. Fighting low-life scum who pretended they were duelists, while stealing cards from others. He'd spend his entire life hunting them down if that was necessary. His entire life, or until he found the card that he searched for.

Tonight was just one more step along the way. He needed to dispose of Yuuki Juudai before he could do anything else, and the way to do that was to defeat the Kaiser.

"Are you sure you don't want to try a different outfit?" One of the workers peered around at him, curious glints in her eyes as she looked from him to his right arm. She tried to hide it, but Edo had seen too many people pulling that trick not to notice.

"This is fine." He liked the white suit for multiple reasons, not the least of those was the fact the sleeves covered his arms, and hid the countdown from common view. Only he, Saiou, and Mizuchi knew how much time he had left.

_Tonight._ He didn't like it. He didn't want anything that could possibly get in his way to happen. And meeting his 'soul mate' would definitely get in the way.

He hadn't asked if Saiou knew who it was. If Saiou did, then he would've said something about it already. Saiou told him everything; that was just how their relationship worked. So it was likely some nobody, someone in the crowds, who was watching their own timer with the kind of enthusiasm that he wasn't. Most of the other pros would be too busy going to their own duels to come and meet him. In fact, the only one he knew for a fact he was going to meet for the first time tonight was…

Edo tensed. No. Of all the people in the world who held even the slightest chance of being his 'soul mate', then it could not, would not be _Kaiser Ryou_. He'd researched enough about the other to know it for certain. Ryou, while a skilled duelist, simply didn't have the killer's instinct and warrior's soul that Edo wanted to think the person meant for him did. He was still little more than an emotional child.

No. It was someone else, someone that he hadn't thought of, someone he didn't expect, someone in the crowds. He'd bump into them and their eyes would meet, and that would be that. Whoever it was would have to understand, however, that there could be nothing between them until his goal was met.

If he got very lucky, then they'd want to help him, and actually be capable of doing so. He wasn't going to hope for that, though. The only people he'd ever met who could genuinely help him were Saiou and Mizuchi. And DD, of course. He couldn't let himself forget DD.

At least it hadn't stopped for Juudai. He didn't think he could've lived with himself if _that_ happened.

As soon as all of the preparations were made, he headed out. The noise from the crowd echoed all the way down here to where the duelists waited in separate cubicles, waiting for the precise moment to arrive and for the lifts to push them upward to the dueling arena. He'd never bothered to find out how many people could duel here at the same time, other than 'a lot'. Only two people mattered: himself and whoever he dueled.

He touched his deck where it rested in his duel disk, knowing the warriors within pulsed with the same eagerness to do battle that he did. He couldn't see them, but he knew it anyway. For the first time in years he'd use them in actual combat. He'd fought a few practice duels with them, mostly against street duelists who had no idea of who he was, in order to get the proper feel of the deck. Other than that, he hadn't used the deck at all.

Tonight that would change. He wouldn't use it to its fullest extent, of course. He would save that for the next duel, when he faced Yuuki Juudai once again. The look of surprise and pain in the other's eyes would be sweet.

He refused to let himself dwell on that. Tonight he dueled the Kaiser, and if he didn't keep himself sharp, then he might lose.

Well, probably not. The Chariot in Saiou's reading foretold his victory and he hadn't yet seen Saiou proven wrong. Short of actually surrendering in the duel, he couldn't see a way for him to lose.

The hour struck; beneath him hydraulics surged, lifting him higher and higher, while above him a circle of light appeared as the cover in the floor of the arena slid aside to admit him. Smoke poured out, all part of the special effects to make the duelists look even more exciting than they already were. Edo disapproved; if he wasn't good enough on his own, then smoke wouldn't make him any better.

"Edo!" Voices called his name and he cast a quick glance over them, wondering briefly if any of them were the one who'd make his counter stop. He didn't feel anything from his arm, not the slightest hint of warmth that would've been the final clue.

"Kaiser! Ryou!" Other voices shouted and he looked over to see his opponent, still wearing the blue and white of his school uniform, standing there.

For a few heartbeats, Edo tensed, waiting as he never had before, one part of his mind focused on his right arm, expecting that warmth and almost fearing it at the same time. He'd heard hundreds of stories from history about how people meant as soul mates met and their urge to battle faded away. He couldn't stand that.

If it happened like that, certain of the fans would likely eat it up. Rumor had it there were bets going on all over about when he'd meet his soul mate and who it would be. He didn't doubt at least some of them placed their money on the Kaiser.

And as moments passed and his arm refused to have that telltale warmth to it, the tension eased from his shoulders and back. Whoever it was, it wasn't Kaiser Ryou. Good. He could continue with the duel and solve that little problem later.

* * *

Ryou refused to let a single scrap of his tension reveal itself. No sign at all of his counter having yet reached zero, though he knew only minutes could remain on it. At most, half an hour: the length it could take to have a good, hard duel.

_Someone I'll meet after it, then._ So much as he didn't want to have one, he also wanted the interminable waiting to end, to finally know, so he could explain to them that he wanted nothing out of romance and wanted only the respect of a duel. If they truly were his soul mate, then they'd understand.

Fubuki'd called him while he was on the way to the KaibaDome. He'd expected that, to some extent.

"Hey, it's tonight, isn't it? I remember how much time you had left." Fubuki didn't need Ryou to remind him. He remembered everything that had to do with someone's timer. He wouldn't cease teasing Asuka that she was going to meet hers sometime in her third year. Manjoume hadn't taken that well at all, especially since his predicted he would meet someone later than that. Months later, in fact.

"Is that all you wanted?" Ryou liked Fubuki, but there were several points in his life where he gave thought to strangling him, just a little. He wasn't entirely certain if one could strangle someone a little, and he hoped Fubuki would never stress him out enough to find out.

"Of course not!" Fubuki snorted, as if the very idea of calling just to ask about that were laughable. He'd clearly forgotten every other time he'd called just to suggest Ryou go somewhere in order to test if he could meet the one sooner. "I wanted to wish you the best."

"Why would you think I'd have any problems?"

"Because you're fighting Edo Phoenix." Sudden traces of seriousness folded themselves around Fubuki's voice. "He's good, Ryou, he's really good."

It took all of Ryou's self-control not to sigh at this. "He wouldn't be in the Pros if he wasn't, Fubuki. This is just a duel, like all the rest." He still held confidence that he'd win. It couldn't be that difficult. All that Edo had against him was that he didn't know what deck Edo would use. Once he saw, then Ryou held not even the smallest doubt that he'd know how to counter it.

"Don't say I didn't warn you. Asuka told me that he showed up here at Duel Academy a few days ago and dueled Juudai."

Those words sent an odd shiver all through Ryou. Why would a pro duelist go to Duel Academia to duel an Osiris Red? Granted, the Osiris Red was _Juudai_, but very few people outside of the school knew how good he really was. "Who won?" He suspected he knew. Juudai'd fought him to a draw; he was Pro League level himself, whether he realized it or not.

"Juudai did. But, Ryou, he still didn't use his real deck. He just bought a few packs and threw something together."

Before Fubuki could get too far on that line of thought, Ryou came into sight of the KaibaDome. The line to get in, as well as to buy various forms of memorabilia plastered with his face or Edo's, already stretched around the block. He stopped next to a tall tree, not wanting anyone to catch sight of him. "I'll call you after the duel. We can talk about it then."

He didn't wait for Fubuki to say good-bye, and likely wouldn't have heard it if he had, not over the noise of the crowd. He closed up the phone and slid it into his pocket, circling around to reach the hidden door on the side where the duelists entered. He'd scarcely given the countdown another thought since then.

Except for the faint watchfulness to ensure that his counter hadn't stopped just yet, he still hadn't. Now all of his thoughts centered on Edo and their duel. He knew this duel would be televised, and that there everyone at Duel Academia would be watching. The last time he'd battled, Shou called him afterward and told him that Professor Chronos and Napoleon made watching his pro duels mandatory for all students. He wanted to do his best, not just for the sake of the duel and his opponent, but to show his brother and everyone else watching the power of a respect duel.

He didn't argue with Edo chose to take the first turn. Why should he, when he could show his own best efforts on the second? Instead, he mused over what sort of deck Edo had in mind to play against him. A warrior deck? Spellcasters? Demon? Undead? Machines? He'd used all of those, according to Ryou's sponsor. Sometimes he'd use one more than once, giving rise to rumors that this was his fabled true deck, only to calmly switch out for another the next time. He'd even used angel-types before. The world of dueling offered infinite options.

In the moments before Edo summoned his first monster, Ryou's thoughts shot back to the timer on his wrist, and the one on Edo's. Had he seen a breath or two of tension from his suited opponent before the duel began? Had Edo's counter reached those last few minutes as well?

Wouldn't it be interesting, for both of them to find their soul mate on this same night? He knew the press would go insane over it. Privacy laws prevented the time left on someone's counter from being public knowledge unless they specifically chose to make it so. Nothing prevented sudden pictures from a couple that just found each other, usually made plain by the shocked look on both faces and staring at mutually stopped counters.

"The monster I'll be summoning is…this guy!" Edo slapped his card onto the disk and Ryou's eyes widened in surprise at the sight of Elemental Hero Featherman rising up before him. Then he smiled.

This would be easy. He hoped that whoever his soul mate was, they were watching closely now. He wasn't in a rush to meet them, but he wanted to show his very best duel, now of all times.

He hadn't entirely given up the hope of having Cyber End turn out as the one to bring his counter to a close. He'd heard of such happening before. And if it did, there would be no one in the world happier than he.

* * *

Ryou closed his eyes as he slid down to the floor on one knee, breathing hard. He'd lost. Worse than lost; Edo hadn't dueled at all like he'd expected. The younger duelist had made such a mockery of his proud Cyber Twin Dragon, turning it into a pet that rose up and down at his command.

He opened his mouth, wanting to declare a challenge for a re-match, wanting to try this again, to have a chance to think instead of letting Edo's words burn in his ears.

He closed his mouth as warmth spread from his right arm all through him, and without thinking about it at all, pulled up his sleeve to show the counter, no longer brilliant red, pulsing scarlet like a brand, but a rich blue, the same shade as his own hair, with every single number a glistening zero.

Across from him, Edo came to a stop as well, and Ryou looked up just in time to see him pulling back his own sleeve. Confusion rippled through him, until Edo turned back to look at him, and their eyes met for the first time since the duel ended.

Ryou swallowed. Never before had he seen someone like Edo. Someone who didn't care about respect, and yet who was a magnificent duelist, someone who could defeat him by being better than he was.

Edo gave him a look, one closed off and remote. Then he turned around and strode on out the door, pulling his sleeve down as he did. Whatever thoughts he had on this, he clearly had no plans to share them with Ryou.

The defeated duelist pushed himself to his feet, tugging his sleeve down by habit as he did. He shook himself; so he'd lost. So Edo was a better duelist: this time. He wasn't going to let it get him down. They'd both known that shy of a miracle, one of them would've lost this duel. He'd win the other duels set before him.

Edo's frozen blue eyes floated now in his thoughts, where all those images of his counter once had been. Ryou fought hard not to pay attention to them as he made his way out of the arena and back to his dressing room. He wanted to think clearly and he needed fresh air for that. Better, he needed silence and solitude.

His phone rang. He pulled it out without a thought and stared at the number on it. _Fubuki._

"Hello." His voice didn't shake. Ryou appreciated that; he could relax with Fubuki, but he didn't want to show any hints of how shaken up he was, over more than just losing the duel.

"I saw what happened. Too bad, man." Ryou could almost see Fubuki shaking his head and the look of reassurance in his eyes. Just the imagining of it warmed him inside.

"Someone had to lose." Ryou told him what he'd told himself in the last few minutes. If he said it enough, perhaps he'd learn to believe it. "I'll win again next time."

"Of course you will! You're the Kaiser, right?" Fubuki didn't believe in doubting people, especially not the ones he cared about. "So, any signs yet?"

Ryou's throat closed up. If it had been anyone else, he thought he might be able to have said something. If it hadn't happened at all, he knew he would've. He would've simply brushed the whole matter off, as he had so many times before. Instead, not a single word made it out of his lips.

"Ryou?" Fubuki's voice took on an extra echo of worry. "Ryou, are you all right? Still there?"

He breathed. Once. Twice. Again. He could do this. "Yes. I'm here."

"Good. I was worried."

Relief of a different kind twinged through Ryou, relief that this was a cell phone and not a video phone. He didn't want to look at Fubuki right now. The other would see in a glance what the whole problem was.

"You didn't answer…" Fubuki broke off and Ryou almost knew for a fact that he now stared at the phone in much the same way that he would've stared at Ryou himself had the two been together. No matter how long Fubuki had been gone, some things didn't change. "Ryou…"

He knew. Ryou paid enough attention to what was going on outside of himself to get into his dressing room and close the door, locking it behind him. Doing so without attracting the attention of the reporters was a miracle in and of itself. They'd likely be too busy flocking around Edo for a little while longer, giving him the time he needed to get in here.

Thankfully, he didn't need any help to get himself cleaned up, and no one would care how long he stayed here, so long as he left by the time the KaibaDome closed at midnight. He hoped no one had caught the timer having run down; even if it was against the law to announce how much time was left, there were still tabloid reporters who'd do anything they could to get around the law. Pictures of his arm would say more than anything else would.

Still silent, he half-fell, half-sat in the luxurious upholstered chair provided and stared at the ceiling. Fubuki hadn't said anything more yet, but Ryou knew his friend well enough to recognize that vibrating sense of urgency. All Fubuki awaited was an answer from him, and he couldn't keep it secret forever.

"Yes." One single word and it held every answer that Fubuki wanted. He shifted his phone to his left hand and leaned it between his head and shoulder, pulling his sleeve up again. The numbers still remained on his arm, firm and glowing all blue zeroes. They'd remain there until the first time he and Edo touched one another.

Fubuki didn't squeal. Ryou almost missed it.

"It's him, isn't it? Edo Phoenix."

"Yes." One word answers were all that came to mind at the moment. He didn't think he could've processed more if he'd really needed to. Thankfully, talking to Fubuki didn't require a whole lot of thinking. If anything, thinking usually ended up being counterproductive.

"Does he…of course he knows. He knew it the same time you did." Light footsteps echoed faintly; Fubuki tended to do his best work when he moved around. "Have you two talked yet? _Touched_ yet?"

That still didn't require more than a single word. "No." "What's holding you back?" Fubuki didn't snap the question, but it was the next thing to it. "You should at least talk to him! He's coming here tomorrow, you know." Ryou found himself sitting up, shocked more than he believed he could've been. He didn't question why the thought of Edo going to Duel Academia spurred him into saying more than one word at a time. "He's what? Why?"

"He wants to duel Juudai again. He said…he said that was his real deck he used on you, and he wants to use it on Juudai now." Fubuki hesitated before he kept speaking. "Juudai looks pretty excited about it, but you know how Juudai is."

Oh, he did indeed. Juudai loved to duel anyone and everyone, from other Osiris Red students to people trying to take over the world. He wanted to believe that Juudai could win, but after the defeat he'd just been handed, and the shock to his system of his counter ending, Ryou couldn't be entirely sure.

"So, after that, who knows where he's going to go. You guys might not be paired up in the Pros for a long time again. If ever. Rematches don't happen that often." Most people wanted to see different duelists dueling each other, not the same people doing it time and again. Though if he could face Edo again after another string of victories, exceptions could be made. He could already imagine how his promoter and sponsors would spin it, an epic clash of enemies facing one another again. It would likely make them even more money than this match had.

"I know." Ryou drew in another breath, finding more of his mental equilibrium. Edo had really used his real deck on him? Some of the sting faded, the part that came from the thought of having lost to some deck that didn't represent Edo's full strength. "If I want to fight him again, I know how to find him."

Edo's contact information, at least some of it, was as easy to locate as going on the internet and looking up the website for the Pro Leagues. It wouldn't give his personal number or address, but it would provide a way to tell him that Ryou wanted another duel. And there would be another duel.

"Ryou. You two are _soul mates_. You can't tell me that you're just going to walk off and not even try to tell him hello or anything, can you?"

Ryou found a small smile on his lips. He wasn't sure where it came from, but he permitted it to remain, at least for now. "Yes, I can. Because that's what I am telling you. And that's what I'm going to do." Soul mates or not, he had no intentions of approaching Edo unless it was on _his_ terms. And he didn't think Edo would be any different.

"You are crazy. So what about if he wants to say something to you, huh?"

Ryou could never have forgotten the look in Edo's eyes when they met once the numbers faded. "He won't." He'd be lucky if Edo accepted his challenge when he was ready to make it. That was just the way that he wanted it, too. Just a challenge, just a pair of duelists fighting one another, nothing more and certainly nothing less.

"I don't even know him and I think you're both crazy." Fubuki heaved a deep and dramatic sigh, one that Ryou knew all too well. Fubuki might've launched into one of his spiels about true love and being bound together by higher powers, one that Ryou'd heard too many times, and wasn't interested in hearing yet again. Which was why he didn't let the other get started.

"I need to get cleaned up and go home, Fubuki. I'll talk to you later." He knew that he'd have to talk to his sponsor the next day as well. They'd expected him to win and he'd failed them. He'd have to work hard to make up for that. His next opponent would likely be even tougher than Edo.

But he'd win that one. Without a doubt. Just one loss didn't mean anything other than the fact he needed to duel harder. He'd underestimated Edo. That was all there was to it. He wouldn't do that next time. He wouldn't lose again.

* * *

Edo closed his door, glad to block out the reporters and their rush of questions. His check of his arm hadn't gone unnoticed, unfortunately. So many of them asked if his counter had stopped. He didn't answer them on that, just telling them what they needed to know concerning his trip to Duel Academia. At least the door was thick enough so he didn't have to listen to them babbling about the state of his counter, what his plans could be and why he was so annoyed by someone else using the Elemental Heroes. It wasn't as if more than one duelist couldn't use the same kind of deck, within reason.

They would no more understand than Yuuki Juudai did. He'd seen others who used Elemental Heroes in the past and it didn't send hot fury coursing along his veins like it did with Juudai. Those others hadn't claimed they were heroes. They hadn't saved the world and still cheerfully bounced around being brainless and giddy.

Juudai didn't know what being a hero really meant. Edo would explain it to him, with every strike of the true heroes that lived in _his_ deck.

He reached for the phone he'd left on the table, his movements going more by memory than thought. It rang on the other end just once before that familiar voice answered. He suspected that Saiou only let it ring once so Edo would know the call had gone through.

"Congratulations, Edo."

"Saiou." He still couldn't believe what had happened. Of all the people in the world, why him? And why then? Why when he'd won the duel and not when they'd met? He knew sometimes the counters didn't stop at first meeting. Sometimes people had to change before it ended. But why had that done it? Some questions, he guessed, would never be answered. "It happened, Saiou."

"Oh?"

Edo knew that tone far too well after all these years. "You knew, didn't you?" He didn't bother to explain more than that. Why should he? Saiou _knew_. And hadn't said anything.

"Is it such a hardship, Edo?"

If he didn't like Saiou as much as he did, and if he didn't need him as much as he did, Edo would've given serious thought to hanging up. "You could've said something."

"To what purpose? You would have known as soon as the timer ran out."

Sometimes hanging around a psychic made Edo's blood pressure skyrocket. He managed to keep himself under control, though. "Is there anything else that you haven't told me?"

Was there a breath of hesitance? No, that wasn't it. If anything, Saiou was more than likely amused that Edo would even ask. "No. You know what I know, Edo."

Companionable silence fell between the two of them. Edo didn't bother to look at his arm. He knew what he'd see there: glimmering blue numbers all in a row, each one a zero. He wondered what sort of higher power arranged all of this and why they'd chosen to bond him to someone like the Kaiser. If he ever found out, he fully intended to give them a piece of his mind.

"Do you plan to meet with him before you go to Duel Academia?" Sometimes he wondered why Saiou asked questions. He knew the answer, though. Saiou didn't see _everything_, only what he bent his mind to see, or visions that chose to come upon him without warning. That didn't happen very often, and he supposed something like his 'soul mate' didn't rate to wherever those visions came from.

"No. I don't have any interest in him." Ryou hadn't been as difficult to defeat as he'd thought. He'd done most of the work himself. Upon reflection, every life point he'd lost had been because of his own doing. Edo liked opponents like that. It made it easier for him.

Saiou chuckled under his breath. "As you wish, Edo." Edo _hated_ that tone. It was the tone that he used on people who didn't believe in his powers. The tone that said "I know something you don't know." He _wasn't_ interested in the Kaiser! He was just another defeated duelist. He'd finished off thirty beforehand, that people knew about, and more that only he and Saiou and those he'd crushed knew.

"I have to get ready to go." He would need a quick nap before going to the school, just to recover some of his strength. Dueling drained his energy, no matter how much his opponent helped him out. "I'll see you after I beat Juudai."

"Rest well, Edo. Come and see me before you go to the school."

"I will." Edo clicked his phone off and set it down, taking a few moments to close his eyes. He didn't want to sleep here, though the dressing room couch beckoned with its soft embrace. No, he had an apartment he could crash in for a short while. He didn't want to wait very long before fighting Juudai once again. The sooner this was done, the better.

* * *

Saiou laid out the cards as he did so many times, searching for any clues to the future. His visions came strongest and clearest when he didn't try for them, but he still learned a great deal by asking the cards what they wanted to tell him. He'd guided Edo through the Pro Leagues via this method.

_Is there anything else that you haven't told me?_ He hated lying to Edo. But he didn't have a choice on the matter. Edo didn't need to know about the Society of Light. It wouldn't affect him in any way.

Not like the new bond forged with Kaiser Ryou. Edo could deny it all he wanted, but fate was fate and destiny could not be denied. They could both resist it (and knowing how stubborn they both were, he knew that they would) but in the end, they would find themselves bound together as greatly as he himself would be one day.

He glanced down to his own wrist, the skin and the countdown hid by his sleeve. He still had quite a bit of time to wait himself. He'd never tried to see who the one for him was. He could keep few secrets from himself, and the universe concealed even fewer. But this was something he simply didn't know, and he looked forward to finding out the old-fashioned way.

The Kaiser. The Society. Saiou turned both thoughts over in his mind before he focused on the cards once again, seeking the answer to his question. He wasn't certain if he _should_ bring the Kaiser into the fold, but if the cards spoke in favor of the idea then he would do so.

One by one he laid them out again, keeping the image of the Kaiser in his thoughts. He couldn't say he was very surprised when the answer was 'no'. _He's part of Edo's fate, not mine._ And though his fate and Edo's were tightly wound as well, there were other people bound to his friend, in a multitude of ways.

Such as Yuuki Juudai, who would fall to Edo's deck this time. And that was when he would fall into Saiou's destiny, thanks to the plans he had for Edo's deck. And once he had both people who could change destiny on his side, then he would have something better to look forward to than destroying the world.

**To Be Continued**


	2. Second Encounter

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh GX  
**Title:** Stubborn Souls: 2-10: Second Encounter  
**Romance:** Edo x Ryou  
**Word Count:** chapter: 6,326||story: 12,586  
**Genre:** Romance||**Rated:** PG-13  
**Feedback:** All forms eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
**Summary:** In a world where a timer on one's arm marks how long until soulmates meet, Edo and Ryou do not let something as insignificant as destiny interfere in their lives.

* * *

"Attention, passengers. We'll dock at Duel Academia in half an hour. Please check all of your luggage and personal possessions. We are not responsible for anything left on the boat." The captain smiled with plastic politeness from the video screens scattered throughout every room on the elegant vessel. From the reactions of some of the passengers, they'd never heard such words in their life, as they raced around in a swift attempt to find everything they'd brought with them.

Hell Kaiser Marufuji Ryou paid none of them any mind. All he had with him amounted to a suitcase of clothes, another with his shock collars, his duel disk, and his deck. He'd spent most of the trip there working on ways to combine his Cyber Dragon deck with the new Cyberdark deck, and found the two of them worked together surprisingly well.

_They were made for one another._ He refused to let any other thoughts on who might be 'made for one another' whisper through his mind. The timer on his wrist hadn't changed in the last seven months. Still brilliant blue, still at all perfect zeroes. He hadn't expected anything else from it, what with not having seen Edo Phoenix in all that time.

He also ignored its existence, preferring to spend his time focusing on his dueling. Soul mates weren't for people like him. He'd given his soul over in the pursuit of victory anyway. He didn't care what the counter said. His true soul mate would ever be his deck.

Yet sometimes, in the deepest dark of night, he stared up at the ceiling and found himself wondering what Edo was doing and where he was. He'd heard only a few things, mostly from Fubuki, concerning how Edo defeated Juudai in their second duel, then was defeated by him in their third.

_Neo-Spacians._ That new development in Juudai's deck and the new tactics that it involved intrigued him. Perhaps he'd encounter Juudai in this tournament. Their record stood at one victory for him and a draw between the two of them. Both of their decks had evolved and matured since then. Perhaps…

Well, it would all depend on who he encountered. Juudai wasn't the only person he wanted to face again. Soul mate or not, he wanted to see Edo again and face that Destiny Hero deck of his with his own Cyberdarks.

_Perhaps Shou as well. I've heard he's grown very skilled._ Just before he'd dueled Edo, he'd received a video message from his brother, detailing out everything about his duel against Kouchou Ran.

That was another person he wouldn't mind facing if the time came. Her insect deck hadn't ever been able to match against his Cyber Deck, but perhaps she'd put more effort into it now that she'd lost to Shou. If she had, she might be worth at least a few turns. And virtually anyone could be useful when it came to testing his new deck.

He'd heard other news about the Academy and what was going on there these days. Fubuki made a point of calling him at least once a week, as well as regular e-mails, though he didn't always answer those. The months he'd spent in the underground left him very little energy for talking to anyone, and even less actual desire to do so. Fubuki never seemed to care, though. He called and wrote anyway. He'd even made certain to send Ryou a gift on his birthday. Some things didn't change.

Yet this 'Society of Light' disturbed him on a level he couldn't quite put a mental finger on just yet. He knew he didn't know Manjoume very well, but from what Fubuki said of him, his praise of Light and insisting that everyone's problems would end if they followed Saiou didn't sound like him at all.

_Saiou._ Another link to Edo. He'd known the other had a manager; it was required in the Pro Leagues, but he'd never thought about Edo's. He seldom thought about it even now, except to wonder what he was doing at Duel Academia. He, of all people, didn't need to attend as a student. But that was what Juudai was there for, to solve school mysteries. His goals were those of a duelist, not fretting about a ridiculous club with a dress code that would cost a fortune in bleach.

All that Saiou mattered was as a link to Edo…and that didn't matter at all. Not a bit. He'd heard rumors that Saiou held some kind of psychic power, but he wasn't entirely certain himself if that were true. If it were, wouldn't Edo have known long before they met in the arena?

Perhaps Edo had known, and just hadn't cared. He frowned at that thought, considering it carefully. It wasn't that horrid of a thought. He'd known from the second he'd seen that look that Edo didn't care about him, now or then. Whatever the countdown decreed, neither of them wanted anything to do with each other.

Fubuki hadn't given up on persuading him to talk to Edo, though. During each of his phone calls, he brought the subject up at some point, offering his services in 'getting them together'. There were more reasons than being tired that Ryou didn't want to talk to him that often.

_If he were that much of an expert, you'd think he'd know where his own was._

Granted, that was one of the deepest mysteries of the time. Fubuki wasn't a blanker; his timer still shimmered bright blue on his arm, but hadn't faded. No one, not even Fubuki himself, knew where his soul mate was, much less who it was.

Not that he'd let that stop him from trying to pair up everyone else that he ran across who had a timer, and he'd made a few offers for some of the blankers around their old neighborhood as well. So far as Ryou could tell, he simply never gave the matter any further thought.

He glanced out the window; the half-hour deadline might well have been a little off, since they were much closer to the island than he surmised they would be. Well and good; the sooner they were there, the sooner he had a chance to find people he could duel. He'd looked up everything he could about this Genex tournament and who was involved. While he didn't think for a moment that any student short of Juudai could give him a genuine challenge, some of the other pros there could be quite interesting to cross decks with.

And again his thoughts traveled back to Edo. He growled to himself, fingers tightening into a fist. If it weren't for not so much as wanting to touch Edo, he would've walked up to him and proposed they vent some frustration with one another, just to work the other out of his system.

_He's not even in my system._ He just kept thinking about him. At odd hours. When there was nothing and no one else to think about, of course. Whenever he defeated a new opponent, the thought of how he might've done this to Edo should he face him again drifted through his mind.

It only meant that he wanted to face his strongest opponent again, the one who'd truly defeated him, so he could show how much stronger _he'd_ grown.

He could almost hear Fubuki's teasing voice in his mind, that glimmering hint of mischief in his smile, asking if Ryou really believed that, or if he were just going to tell himself that until he did. It was Fubuki who had brought up the whole idea of 'venting frustration' on the last phone call, though he hadn't called it that, of course.

"Have you ever thought about just going over to where he lives and kissing the living daylights out of him and let nature take its course?"

_If he'd actually been standing there in front of me…_ Ryou wasn't certain what he would've done, but it would've been something a lot more physical than disconnect the phone. Why should Asuka have the pleasure of being the only person who'd ever knocked Fubuki a good one?

He could've given other excuses, if he'd wanted to. That Edo was no more interested in him than he was in Edo. That he wanted to win victories more than he wanted to have a social life. That he didn't know where Edo lived.

The last one would've been a lie. He'd looked up Edo's address once, out of nothing more than curiosity, and it burned in the back of his mind like a brand. He'd never tried to lie to Fubuki, mostly because it never seemed to do any good. He didn't feel like trying to start now, not in this situation. Best just not to say anything at all about it.

Once the boat docked, he headed down the ramp, ignoring the multitude of other passengers, most of them duelists who were here for Genex. A few were pros, a few were people from other schools who'd been given medals. He kept his attention sharp for a few people he'd heard of, but didn't know if they received invitations or not. Rumor ran sharp through the dueling circuit about Johan Andersen and his famous Gem Beast deck. No one Ryou spoke to knew if he'd be there or not, unfortunately. Ryou would've given a great deal to face _that_ deck.

Unfortunately, as he made his way through the crowd and toward the main building, he couldn't see anyone that he actually wanted to duel. He saw people that he knew, some he'd known in lower years when he'd attended, and one or two that he'd fought in the Pros, both before and after his rebirth.

He even saw someone he knew from the underground, and a slight smile –or an upward tilt of his lips, at least- flicked over his features. He wasn't the only person to graduate from the underground to the pros. He didn't know if Saruyama promoted them or not, but he knew quite well how they dueled: lots of direct damage cards and monsters that attacked directly. He'd beaten them handily.

Shortly after he'd left the Cyber dojo with his new deck and the Genex medal in his hand, he'd received a package concerning the tournament and all the little details that he would need to know for it, including the rules and the names of the major competitors. He hadn't been at all surprised to see Juudai's name listed. Included with the information were directions to a seldom used wing of the main building. One floor up from where all the teachers who weren't Kabayama, Chronos, or Ayukawa lived were multiple suites of rooms at least as good as anything Obelisk Blue provided, where all the pro duelists who didn't make accommodations of their own somewhere on the island would live during the tournament. One of those would be his now.

Not that he planned to spend much time there. He paused just long enough to toss his suitcase down, carefully pack away the shock collars, and check the school computer the room also came with to see what the current medal holders' records were, and who they themselves were.

Again, no surprise at all at the sight of who stood at the top of the listings: Yuuki Juudai. He likely would've been more surprised if Juudai _hadn't_ been there.

His gaze flickered down farther, seeing familiar faces listed with plenty of medals. He could've looked to see exactly who dueled who and how many medals they'd set on the line each time, but he'd already done enough research. Now he thirsted for a duel, for the sight of his opponent's monsters faced against him and to see his own sleek black dragons ranged to attack on his behalf.

_I wonder who it will be._ He knew that since his rebirth as Hell Kaiser, not that many people _wanted_ to duel him. They'd seen what he'd done to people, both in the Pro Leagues and in the underground. Saruyama had to struggle to find him opponents after his near slaughter of Inukai.

He wasn't sure if 'near' actually fit that, though. So far as he knew, Inukai hadn't yet been released from the hospital. He hadn't even woken up yet. Rumor had it that he might not, ever.

Oh, well. That was what he got for playing with electricity.

One thing that Ryou learned after stepping out of the air conditioned building was that wearing black leather on a tropical island wasn't the brightest idea in the universe. He refused to let it bother him at all, of course. He could deal with a little heat.

Yet once again, Edo made his unwanted presence known by wandering through Ryou's thoughts dressed in that white outfit of his. It might not have _been_ cooler, but it _looked_ cooler and Ryou made up his mind that if their paths crossed in this tournament, then he would do everything with his power to burn Edo to the bone.

* * *

Edo knew Ryou was on the island and had been there for at least two or three weeks. He had access to all the information about which duelists were coming, even information that no one else short of Principal Samejima had. One of them _must_ be who he was looking for, the one who'd killed his father and had the Ultimate D.

He also knew how to listen to gossip. Especially gossip spread about by Tenjoin Fubuki, which had a tendency to either focus on Ryou and his image change, or who was dating who and whose timers were closest to running out together. For all that people weren't supposed to look, Fubuki still knew more than most about such things.

Whether Edo liked it or not, in the last few months, Hell Kaiser Marufuji Ryou had achieved the unprecedented position of being the person Edo thought about third most often. First was, of course, that mysterious murderer. Second was Saiou and everything that he hadn't told him.

And now, third, Ryou. The one whose counter matched his, the one that was, by all conventional wisdom and experience, his 'soul mate'. The one who'd arisen from the ashes of his defeat in black leather and a burning desire for victory that swept away all those in his path.

Edo didn't know where he'd found the outfit, but it suited Ryou much more than the insipid uniform of Duel Academia. Ryou didn't look so much like an immature child anymore.

Yet knowing all of that didn't make him want to duel Ryou again. It wasn't such a _horrid_ idea, but it wasn't that interesting, either. What could Ryou do that he couldn't counter? Elemental Heroes or Destiny Heroes, the win would be his once again, and he preferred dueling new opponents to ones he'd already trounced.

Of course, Juudai'd turned the tables on him with that new deck of his. Perhaps…

No. Ryou would need a lot more than a new deck to catch _his_ attention as a duelist. He'd heard stories, of course, but Edo didn't listen to stories except for entertainment. Stories about how Ryou didn't care about respect anymore. Stories about how ruthless and violent he fought in his duels now. There'd even been rumors that he'd fought his best friend with a new deck of dark dragons.

It wasn't easy not to get interested, but Edo had a lot of practice in ignoring things that weren't his first and foremost goal.

Genex wasn't nearly as interesting as he'd thought it would be. He'd hoped for better duelists to come from the Pro Leagues. He probably shouldn't have; he knew what the caliber of duelists there was like. He'd dueled there for quite some time, after all. That was why he spent at least part of his time searching in the lower reaches of dueling society. Only someone who came from _there_ would be the one that he wanted, no matter what Saiou said.

He still hadn't made up his mind exactly on what he thought of Saiou anymore. Could he trust him? _Should_ he trust him? This whole Society of Light and brainwashing deal sent faint chills down his spine and he wasn't entirely sure of why. He wanted to think there were good reasons for it, as well as for why Saiou hadn't said anything to him about it. But whatever those reasons were, he knew nothing of them, and Saiou refused to see him at all.

That still steamed him. Saiou knew how much he didn't like this place and that the only reason he was even here was to get stronger so he'd be able to defeat Juudai again when the time came. That, and with the dawning of Genex, his hopes of finding who the murderer was grew even stronger. This was the kind of tournament where someone like his quarry would turn up sooner or later. The moment the Ultimate D was played, he'd _know_. He might not be able to communicate with spirits like Juudai did, but he'd know anyway.

_Kaiser's been in the underground. Maybe I should ask him._ It wasn't such a bad idea, all things considered. He didn't have an interest in talking to the Kaiser about such things as their mutual clocks, but for something like this? He could bend just a little.

Now, there was a large difference between knowing that someone was on the island and knowing exactly where they were on it. Edo knew one and could figure out the other: Kaiser would be wherever he could find someone willing to duel him.

Frankly, that didn't narrow it down at all, for two very distinct reasons: either people would be too afraid of Hell Kaiser and his reputation and thus would stay far away from him out of fear of their lives, or they would be eager to try him out and hunt him down wherever he happened to end up.

Edo found himself hoping it was the latter; maybe he'd get a chance to see firsthand how the older duelist fought these days. Not wanting to duel him didn't mean he wasn't a little interested in this 'lack of respect' duelist the other had become.

Finding him didn't take nearly as long as he'd thought it would be. There were plenty of people wandering around in search of duels, but few of them stood a breath or two shy of six feet tall and marched around a tropical island wearing head to foot black leather. All Edo really had to do was head for the main building, where most of the duelists gathered at this time of day, and there he was.

And there also he found quite a few other duelists, most of whom were doing everything within their power to avoid actually looking at the Kaiser, as if just meeting his gaze would urge him to challenge them.

_Idiots._ "Kaiser!" He could tell Ryou caught sight of him before he'd even opened his mouth. Those sharp, cold eyes riveted on him the moment that he stepped into the area. One duelist recognized another, one _warrior_ recognized another.

The black leather did more than just look good on him, Edo decided in a moment he would ever after refuse to admit existed. This was Ryou the way he should've always been. This was the _real_ Marufuji Ryou.

Perhaps that was why the counter…

No. Never. It didn't _matter_.

All of that passed through Edo's mind in a mere fraction of a second as he came over to stand before the other. He knew better than to simply start asking Ryou about the underground. It wasn't common knowledge, but Edo had contacts in interesting places, mostly through DD. He'd never asked how his guardian knew about those forbidden duels.

He didn't really get a chance to ask the questions that he wanted to, though. Not with Shou showing up and insisting on dueling his older brother himself.

_I'll talk to him after the duel._ He couldn't resist the chance to see this new Hell Kaiser duel now that it presented itself. Seeing how a duel played out with the shock collars also appealed to him.

Hearing Ryou speak openly of the underground and how he'd been reborn there by the shock collars pleased Edo. _At least I can ask him about it and not have to explain how I know he was there._ He didn't like to mention his connections to DD if he could help it. Everyone knew of the top of the Pro League, and he wanted to make his way on his own, not by who he knew.

Edo'd never been one to act on impulse. He thought his way through everything, making certain of the results beforehand. He knew what he risked by picking up one set of the shock collars and turning toward Ryou with them. Skin to skin contact between the two of them would bring about the vanishing of the timer. Most people considered that an acceptance of the bond between soulmates.

He held the collar toward Ryou, while keeping the arm bands back. Ryou stared down at him, eyes narrowed for a few moments, and Edo could not help but wonder exactly what passed through his mind. Whatever it was, Hell Kaiser took the collar, keeping his hands as far from Edo as he could while still doing so.

"Why are you doing this?" Ryou's voice pitched low as he fastened the collar around his own neck, making certain everything was hooked up properly.

"I want to see you duel." Edo didn't see any reason to hide that fact. "Like I said, it's such a drastic image change for you." His lips twitched for a moment or two. "Really, was it _that_ horrible, losing to me?"

He saw a flicker of tension across the Kaiser's neck, even as he moved closer to slide the arm bands onto him. He found himself grateful for the other's leather coat; it kept them from making actual contact otherwise. Yet he still could not help but be close to Ryou, breathing in the scent of his skin. Black leather and a tropical island didn't go together very well. Yet it created an aroma that made Edo shiver from the top of his head to the soles of his feet. It wasn't cologne of any kind; it was simply the scent of Ryou himself.

From the way Ryou's eyes tracked him as he got the bands into place, Edo thought the other might well be having the same experience. He did what he could to push all of the thoughts out of his mind. Without even having to discuss it, he could tell they'd made the same decision: whatever the counter said didn't matter.

Once the shock collars were in place, Edo stepped away to join Juudai and the others, much more relieved than he ever wanted to admit for the fresh air that would clear his head.

_That was the first time we were that close._ It hadn't been anything like he'd thought it would be. No overwhelming pull, no demand that he do anything he didn't want to. If anything, Ryou hadn't even wanted him that close. _He understood._

Edo pushed all of those thoughts out his mind too. He was there to watch a duel, nothing more. A spectacular one, if everything he'd heard held even the slightest bit of truth.

And as the duel progressed, he couldn't help but think that the rumors hadn't been entirely true: instead, they'd fallen far short of the mark when it came to not only how much better of a duelist Ryou now was, but for how ruthless and cold he'd become. This wasn't the first time that he'd seen siblings duel against one another before, for any number of reasons. He'd never seen a duel like this, where one fought to show the other the benefits of respect, and the other wanted nothing more to do with it.

Minute by minute it passed, move after move, each one more skilled than the last. Edo held back a smile. _Maybe I'll duel him again after all._ Though perhaps not just yet. He still had his own path to walk, his destiny to follow. But once that was over, the chance, small as it was now, existed.

"You're the real Kaiser, Shou!" As Juudai's cries echoed over the school grounds, Hell Kaiser turned and walked away without a backward glance, or even bothering to pick up his shock collars. Edo stopped long enough to remove them from Shou and pack them back into the case Ryou left behind, even as the school medical team raced up.

He spared only a glance, enough so he knew where they were taking Shou before he headed off the way he'd seen Ryou going. It didn't take long to find him. Even in these woods, his height made him stand out.

"You left these." Edo spoke, waiting for Ryou to turn before he held out the small suitcase.

Ryou's gaze flickered up and down him before he reached out to take it. "You could've left them there."

Edo shrugged dismissively. "I wanted to talk to you anyway." He let Ryou remove his own collars this time. He'd gotten close enough to him once already that day.

Ryou eyed him again, a frown forming between his eyes. "About what?"

"The underground." Edo considered; did Ryou even know about his father? No, and he couldn't think of a reason to tell him. "I'm looking for someone and they might've been there."

"Who?" There wasn't a shred of trust in Ryou's eyes, much less anything softer than that. Nothing but a demand for information.

Edo shook his head. If it were that easy, he wouldn't have spent all this time looking for the stranger. "I don't know his name. What I know is that he has a card that I'm looking for. The Ultimate D. The greatest of the D-Heroes."

Ryou tilted his head back, the frown between his eyes now deeper, and one more of concentration than distrust. "No one I dueled played anything like that."

Damn. Again, he knew it couldn't have been that easy. He nodded for a moment and began to turn when the smallest flicker of curiosity stopped him. "You really don't respect anyone else anymore, do you?"

The smile that tilted Ryou's lips held something more in common with sharks than with people. "I respect victory. And I don't care what I have to do in order to gain it."

Edo's smile held even less humor than Ryou's. "Of course." He didn't leave just yet, though. "You know, if you intend to win Genex, we will have to duel, sooner or later." That wasn't entirely true; either of them could be taken out at any moment by any other duelists.

Well, maybe. It wasn't that likely.

All right, they'd have to duel each other.

"I know." Ryou's shoulders moved into a quick shrug. "Did you want to do it now and get it over with?" What they'd said to Shou was truth; they _could_ duel any time in the Pros. That didn't mean they couldn't duel here and now.

Edo opened his mouth to say yes. He thought for a few brief moments about wanting to duel against Hell Kaiser with the shock collars, to feel that electricity surging through him.

Then he took another look at Ryou, spying what he'd missed before: the faint red marks on his neck where the collar rested. The beads of sweat that weren't from the heat and the leather. The faint lines of stress.

"Not today. I've got plans." A lie, but he didn't care. He shrugged carelessly. "I'll let you know when I want one, though." He considered for another heartbeat. "They took Shou to the infirmary." That elicited only a brief nod. "You could probably go see him if you wanted to."

Ryou said nothing to that, only turned away. "If that's all."

_You're a strange one, Hell Kaiser._ Somewhere in a part of himself Edo refused to listen to, he wanted to get to know the other better, to learn what it was that made him tick. But for the moment, he turned around himself. He didn't really have other plans, but there were plenty of duelists out there that he hadn't fought.

Both of them began to walk away. Almost at the same moment, they stopped, identical warmth rushing from their right arms. Each looked over their shoulder at the other, then away.

"I don't care." Ryou spoke first, his words brief and bitten off. Edo could not help a smile.

"Afraid of what would happen?" He liked the flicker of anger in Ryou's eyes there. He wanted to see more of it. To see all of that fury and anger directed toward him in an all-consuming wave…

Ryou's weight shifted on his feet and more anger burned bright. Edo saw no reason to stop. "Don't think that I'm interested in _you_, no matter what this says." He waved the offending arm for a moment toward Ryou. "I just want to know why _you're_ not."

"Because of all the people in the world that I could be 'soul mates' with, you didn't even make the list." The way Ryou said the word resembled the way many other people thought of something to scrape off the bottom of their shoes. "I can think of a thousand people I'd rather be 'destined' for."

"So can I." Saiou came to mind, but he wasn't going to say that, not with his own confused issues towards his best friend. "But people would say that we're stuck with each other."

"People have said a lot of stupid things in this world. Why should I listen to them?"

Ryou started to turn away again, when merry laughter echoed all around them. Edo tensed, one hand falling automatically to his deck, only to relax when Ryou looked up into the trees, shoulders tense and eyes narrowed.

"What are you doing up there, Fubuki?"

Edo usually prided himself on being able to detect someone no matter where they hid. The kind of duelist that he fought on the streets liked to hide almost anywhere. Yet he still hadn't noticed Tenjoin Fubuki until the other swung down casually from the concealing branches of a tree and landed gracefully in between the two of them.

"I've been watching you two flirt with each other." Fubuki folded his arms over his chest and divided his attention between the two, a very smug smirk on his face. One quick glance at Ryou convinced Edo that the taller duelist was less than a breath away from burying his face in one hand.

"We're not flirting." Both of them said it in almost the same moment, off only by a second or two. Ryou paid no attention to Edo, but stared at his best friend.

"What makes you think we are?"

Fubuki laughed and shook his head in a way designed to indicate how silly they were. "Everything you say. Everything you do. Just the way you act around each other. You two are _soul mates_. You can't fight it forever. Just give it up."

Edo held back a growl by force of will. "If I wanted to have anything to do with him, I would have already."

"Likewise." Ryou still didn't look fully at Edo but focused on Fubuki. "You can stop this now, Fubuki."

The brunet looked at the two of them in turn. "You two don't know how good you have it." His voice pitched low and quiet, hints of concern clear there now. He pulled back his own sleeve to show his stopped counter. "You could miss out on something fantastic and you don't care. Why?"

"Because I –" Again they spoke in absolute unison, and both stopped at an imperious wave of Fubuki's hand.

"I know, I know. You," he pointed at Edo, "want to find your father's killer." He pointed at Ryou next. "And you want to find victory in dueling. Did it ever occur to you that you could do both together?"

Edo didn't even have to think about that. "I don't need his help." The only person whose help he needed was Saiou, and there were times when he doubted that as well. He didn't wait around to hear what other nonsense Fubuki might spout. He turned on his heel and stalked away, wishing in the back of his mind that Ryou hadn't been the one to take Fubuki out of Genex. He wouldn't have minded having a go at the brunet himself.

* * *

Ryou turned the full force of his dismissive glare onto Fubuki, who brushed it off with the same ease he had when Ryou tried the lesser versions of those in the past.

"I can run my own life without your help, Fubuki. In _every_ kind of way."

Fubuki didn't move from where he leaned against the tree, an amused smile playing on his lips. "Are you upset because I said what you didn't want to hear, or because I interrupted a glorious moment between the two of you before you could finally get over yourself and actually kiss him?"

It took every ounce of self-control Ryou had not to smack Fubuki with his duel disk. He didn't know how Asuka'd survived this long with him as her brother. "I wasn't going to kiss him, now or ever." Maybe if he said it like this, it would get through to Fubuki. "I'd die before I'd kiss him."

"Why?" Fubuki tilted his head to the side. "What's that horrible about having a relationship with him? It won't wreck your reputation, or his."

"I don't care about that. I just don't _want_ to." Ryou did not let his memories linger on the way Edo's eyes burned into him or how he'd felt Edo's fingers even through the leather as he'd held get the shock collars on him. He knew what he wanted and what he didn't want. What he'd told Rei the year before still held true: he'd devoted his life to dueling, even more so now that he was Hell Kaiser.

Fubuki rolled his eyes. "You're the most stubborn person I've ever met in my life." He tugged his sleeve down, fingers brushing against the dark blue zeroes with what Ryou thought might be regret. Whoever Fubuki's other half was, they weren't dead. If he or she died, then the numbers would've faded altogether, and not with the same feeling as when two soul mates touched one another for the first time. Wherever they were, they just weren't around.

Ryou decided he'd given enough time that day people who wanted to talk about true love, soul mates, or anything else that didn't involve actually winning duels. He'd barely taken a few steps when Fubuki spoke up again.

"You two really were flirting with each other."

It was just as well that Fubuki leaped back into the trees and climbed out of sight. Ryou ground his teeth together and stalked away, putting every thought he had on duels and victory.

And on how annoying Fubuki's laughter and final words sounded. "You're lucky I don't start a betting pool. I could get very rich from that."

* * *

Edo threw himself down on the couch in the main room of his yacht and stared at the ceiling as if it personally offended him. It wasn't the ceiling's fault; Fubuki's words still rang in his mind no matter how hard he tried to ignore them.

_I've been watching you two flirt with each other._

Flirting. As if he'd do that with anyone, much less Hell Kaiser. He didn't think he even knew how to flirt. Fifty different ways to break someone's leg in at least twelve different places, yes. A thousand ways to defeat someone in a duel with dozens of different decks, certainly. But how to flirt? That wasn't anything he'd ever worried himself about.

_Why did he have to bother us?_ It wasn't flirting, but he'd _enjoyed_ their conversation, such as it was, before Fubuki'd interrupted. All that fire turned on him, ready and waiting to consume him in its intensity…

That wasn't flirting. Flirting was…cuter, wasn't it? Batting eyes at each other? Teasing each other?

Damn it. He didn't know, and the fact was, Fubuki _did_ know more about romance than he did. He'd seen it for himself, multiple times since he'd come to stay here. He hadn't put together numerous couples, but just what he said and how he said it, sometimes it made sense. Not always. He'd heard Shou telling Kenzan once about a 'love duel' Fubuki apparently had arranged their previous year.

_At least he didn't try that with us._ Bad enough they had the counters trying to tell them what to do. Neither of them needed someone like Fubuki poking his nose into the mix.

Neither of them needed anyone else sorting this out, because it didn't need sorting out. They'd both made up their minds. Edo turned over and stared at the white pillows beneath him.

_Even if we wanted to, there's too much else going on._ Fubuki was wrong: there was a reason that they couldn't accomplish both their goals together. He refused to bring anyone else into the mess that his life was. There wasn't anything Ryou could do about it, anyway. And once he found the murderer, he didn't want anyone else who might get hurt around.

His lips twitched for the briefest of moments. _Though if what I saw today is in any indication, anyone who tried anything on him would regret it._ And that would be incredibly fun to watch.

Even though he'd never let it happen.

**To Be Continued**


End file.
